Who's behind it: Altamarea Group, the hospitality company founded by CEO Ahmass Fakahany, operates more than 20 restaurants worldwide, including Wine Spectator Grand Award Winner Ai Fiori in New York. Best of Award of Excellence winner, Marea, located on Central Park South, is the company’s first restaurant and its flagship. The group recently took the fine-dining Italian seafood restaurant to Beverly Hills, Calif., just steps away from Rodeo Drive, famed for its luxury shopping, hotels and restaurants.
Senior director Francesco Grosso said it made sense for Marea to be in Los Angeles because a lot of Altamarea’s clientele is in the entertainment or publishing industries. “Even though there are a lot of Italian options in Beverly Hills and Los Angeles, I think we’re a welcome addition with our seafood focus and elevated wine program,” Grosso told Wine Spectator.
Grosso oversees the Beverly Hills property, including the wine and beverage program. Kaleb Kiger, a former sommelier at Grand Award Winner Lazy Bear in San Francisco, serves as the wine director. Marea’s executive chef, PJ Calapa, supervises both the New York and Beverly Hills kitchens, with Amaury Tafolla and Travis Passerotti acting as co–chefs de cuisine.
When it opened: Jan. 16, 2025
The culinary approach: Those who have frequented Marea in New York will find many of its classic dishes at the Beverly Hills restaurant, including the handmade fusilli with octopus and bone marrow, as well as the astice, a decadent twist on a caprese salad with lobster served over burrata, basil and eggplant a funghetto (“mushroom style”).
“Largely, the menu is the same as New York, but we do have some Southern California–spun touches to the menu,” explained Grosso, highlighting dishes such as a new artichoke salad with hearts of palm, Meyer lemon, Parmesan, Fresno chile and parsley, as well as an avocado stuffed with Santa Barbara spot prawn tartare and served with fennel, Calabrian chiles and tarragon. “You don't find much avocado on the Amalfi Coast, but it’s a very Amalfi dish with a California spin on it.”
The seafood-heavy menu offers plenty of opportunities for indulgence, including a caviar service and an array of crudo plates. House-made pastas and larger plates round out the menu and can be shared.
What’s on the wine list: Marea Beverly Hills opened with around 400 wines on the list, but Grosso said the team plans to grow it to around 1,000 selections by the end of the year, closer to the size of the New York program.
The list leans toward Italy, with seafood-friendly whites from Campania and Sicily, such as Benanti’s Etna White. Grosso is particularly excited about the white-wine and Champagne storage room. “In New York, we have one or two bottles of everything at service temperature, but every single bottle is cold in California,” he said.
From Chablis to Chassagne-Montrachet, there’s a little bit of everything for white Burgundy fans. “We sell a lot of white Burgundy,” Grosso noted. “Even though we’e an Italian restaurant, [I’m] not going to talk anyone out of a glass of Meursault with langoustines!”
For reds, Piedmont and Tuscany lead the way, with bottlings from Giuseppe Mascarello & Figlio, Conterno, Canalicchio di Sopra and Valdicava. And a diverse mix of Burgundy should appeal to Pinot Noir lovers. For those who can’t resist a Napa Cabernet, the list includes older vintages of wines from leading California wineries, including Diamond Creek, Dunn and Staglin.
The design: Nusla Design styled the 140-seat restaurant, as it did Marea New York. The glowing, honey onyx bar makes an alluring centerpiece. Overall, the contemporary space channels sunny Southern California with its lighter-toned mahogany details and earth-toned fabrics. Pops of blue, including a hand-crafted Murano glass chandelier in the lounge area, accent the space. Another eye-catching piece is an original oil painting of Italian actress Sophia Loren by London artist Nasser Azam.
“It’s a lighter, airier Southern Californian version of Marea in New York,” explained Grosso. “The restaurant is completely open. All the front windows slide, and we have a beautiful covered terrace.” Additionally, two semi-private dining rooms can be combined for large parties.—Aaron Romano
Michael Mina Opens a New Bourbon Steak in Florida
Who’s behind it: Chef Michael Mina’s Mina Group has opened the ninth location of its Bourbon Steak, at the recently renovated oceanfront Seagate Hotel in Delray Beach, Fla. The group also opened another Bourbon Steak location earlier this year at the Mandalay Bay Beach resort in Las Vegas.
When it opened: March 3, 2025
Why you should know about it: Mina is a partner in 10 Wine Spectator Best of Award of Excellence–winning restaurants, including Orla, Stripsteak and Bardot Brasserie. In addition to the recent Bourbon Steak openings, he also launched Taleed, his first restaurant in Saudi Arabia, in February. And in 2024, Mina published My Egypt: Cooking From My Roots, a cookbook of recipes from Egypt, where he was born.
What’s on the wine list: The 300-selection list was assembled by Bourbon Steak's national beverage director, Andrew Bradbury, who joined the Mina Group late last year. His extensive hospitality resume includes launching the first wireless, touchscreen wine list in 2002, during his time as wine director at now-closed Grand Award winner Aureole in Las Vegas.
Spain is represented by names like Vega Sicilia and Dominio de Pingus, while Italian labels include Antinori, Oddero and Aldo Conterno. California Cabernet fans have plenty to choose from, including verticals from Napa’s Jordan and Groth, as well as selections from Shafer, Stag’s Leap Wine Cellars and Chateau Montelena. A selection of Champagnes are available from houses like Moët & Chandon, Louis Roederer and Perrier-Jouët.
The culinary approach: Bourbon Steak has made a name for itself with its proprietary slow-poaching technique: Chefs cook prime cuts of Black Angus and Australian and Japanese Wagyu in a blend of beef tallow, butter, herbs and spices before finishing them over a 900° F, wood-burning grill. The Bourbon-flamed Wagyu tomahawk is perhaps the most notable menu item: The 40-ounce, hay-smoked rib eye is brought out on its own trolley and carved tableside. Steaks come with any of nine accompaniments, including black truffle butter, béarnaise sauce and Maine lobster.
Mina’s fans will recognize a few signature dishes, like the caviar “Twinkie” (homemade cornbread stuffed with a yuzu crème fraîche and topped with chives and caviar), tuna tartare (with mint, pine nuts, a quail egg and a pear-habanero sesame oil) and lobster pot pie (with vegetables, black truffles and a lobster-brandy cream). Overseeing the kitchen is chef Pablo Valencia, who recently led culinary teams at two Ritz-Carlton locations and at Kalatua, a beachside restaurant in St. Martin.
The design: Martin Brudnizki Design Studios, which worked on Restaurant Award winners Café Boulud and Carne Mare, developed the 310-seat space. Brass accents, marble surfaces and mirrored columns glitter among green and yellow chairs and tables intended to add South Florida character. At the center of the dining room, a 24-seat square bar serves cocktails such as the restaurant’s Martini (vodka with olive bitters and yuzu essence) and the Tiki Old Fashioned (rum, banana, cacao and bitters). Bourbon Steak Delray Beach also has two private dining rooms and a partially covered patio.—Greg Warner
Marc Forgione’s One Fifth Closes in New York City
What’s happened: In a Feb. 12 Instagram post, the team behind chef Marc Forgione’s One Fifth announced the Manhattan restaurant would be closing Feb. 22.
“After lots of careful consideration, and with much gratitude, we have made the difficult decision to close Trattoria One Fifth later this month,” the post read. “We’re grateful to have been part of the incredible restaurant history of this iconic address and have loved getting to know all of our neighbors.”
Forgione and his Respect Hospitality group also own Wine Spectator Best of Award of Excellence winner Forge (which relocated in 2023) in Manhattan’s Tribeca neighborhood and Award of Excellence winner Peasant (and its wine bar) in Nolita.
An impressive run: Forgione opened the much anticipated One Fifth in 2022 in Greenwich Village’s historic One Fifth Avenue skyscraper, home to several previous restaurants. It quickly grew into a leading Manhattan restaurant with an Italian-cuisine menu of dishes like brown butter focaccia, “Nana’s Meatballs with Sunday Sauce,” mozzarella in carrozza (with chile lobster sauce), tagliatelle with rabbit and wild mushrooms, and cappelletti with prosciutto. The restaurant also offered Forgione’s signature whole pig roast.
The wine list: One Fifth offered an impressive, 500-label wine list that earned a Best of Award of Excellence in 2023. Focused primarily on Italy and California, the 2,500-bottle cellar was originally overseen by wine director Katherine Hooper, who left the restaurant in November 2023 and was succeeded by Emily Gutierrez.
The program boasted about 20 large-format bottlings and a robust Champagne collection. With a focus on value, one section was devoted to 100 wines priced less than $100. And lesser-known Italian categories were featured in white and red “Outer Borough” lists. There were nearly 30 vintage amari available as well.
What comes next: “We have some new projects in the works and have decided to focus our energy and resources on those,” read the Instagram post. “Thank you for all your support and for helping us create so many special memories.”
The One Fifth space, itself, will not be shuttered long: Earlier this week, it was reported that it will become the second location for Golden Steer Steakhouse, joining the original, an Award of Excellence winner and one of the best-known steak houses in the Las Vegas area.—Collin Dreizen
